


Fears

by MarieAqua



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-07-09 19:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19893256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarieAqua/pseuds/MarieAqua
Summary: The Mighty Nien have had many fears, it's what's expected in their field of work, but these fears are different. They are fears about their family and their future.A fic set both before and after the campaign about the fears the Nien feel about the children in their life. Most of this fic will be set after the campaign with some canon divergence. Despite the title, there isn't any angst just family fluff (Okay so the first chapter is kind of angsty but after that it's great)





	1. Nott/Veth

Out of the members of the Mighty Nein, Nott - or more accurately Veth - was the first to have fears about the children in her life. It was years ago when Luc was very young. It was the year her family and she were taken by the goblins. They had been held for a long time, months maybe, but she couldn’t tell. The only thing she knew was that Luc had been without food and water for too long and she had to get him out of there.

“Yeza?” Veth whispered to her husband. She looked for his face in the dark, she could guess that it was the middle of the night from the lack of light coming into the cell-like room they were being kept in, but couldn’t find it. “Yeza are you awake?”. 

“Huh?” A voice called out, rasped by sleep. A hand reached out and swatted around for Veth. The hand found hers and held it. 

“Yeza?” Veth asked again, confirming that she was talking to her husband. 

“Yes, Veth?” the voice cleared and took the shape of Yeza’s. “Are you okay?” 

Veth thought about how to answer that. Was she okay? No. Was she any worse than she was the past few days? Also no. “I’m fine”

“Is Luc okay?” 

“Not for much longer” Veth barely answered without crying. She felt completely helpless to help her son. “Yeza, we have to get him out of here”. 

Yeza stayed quiet for a moment before eventually responding. “How?”.

“I don’t know. He just needs to get out of here and to safety”

“Veth he can’t run very fast; neither can I. Even if we were to get out of this cell we wouldn’t get far…” Veth zoned out and started thinking about what Yeza said. Luc and he aren’t fast, but she is. “...and I don’t think the other prisoners would appreciate the extra punishment that they would probably get from us escaping…” 

“I’m fast” Veth interrupted him.

“What?”

“I’m fast. I can make a distraction and get them to run after me. You two could get away”

“Veth no” 

“Yes. I have to do this. You two could run to the river towards the town and I could run the other way; meet you guys on the other side of the river”

“Veth I can’t risk that”

“And I can’t risk Luc staying here any longer”

Yeza stayed quiet and looked at the vague outline of Veth’s face he could see through the darkness. He couldn’t see her facial expression but he knew she had the most intense look on her face that she has had in her life. “I know I can’t change your mind”

“Yeah”

“And it would be easier if I went along with it”

“Yeah”

Yeza thought about it for a few more seconds and came to the conclusion that he had to go along with her plan. He hated risking Veth, but he couldn’t risk Luc. “Okay. Whenever you’re ready to go I’ll do it”.

“Tomorrow morning. We are getting Luc out of here tomorrow morning”

“Okay, in the morning” Yeza agreed. “I love you so much, both of you”

“I love you too,” Veth said. “And if anything happens tomorrow make sure that Luc knows I love him”

“Veth…”

“Please just say you’ll do it”

“I will” 

“Thank You”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First Chapter! This should be the only chapter with angst, so don't worry about any more going forward. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave some kudos and a comment. Thanks for reading! <3


	2. Caduceus

Next was Caduceus. His fear wasn’t about a child younger than him, but one older. He was still a little kid when his oldest sister left home. He didn’t know why she was leaving but he knew that she was taking weapons and armor with her, and that wasn’t a good sign. 

“Clarabell, why are you going away?” Little Caduceus was following Clarabell around as she packed things into a bag. She smiled and bent down to meet his eye level. 

“I’m going to find some old family friends that we haven’t seen in a very long time” She explained.

“Okay” Caduceus nodded and sat down in a chair in the corner of Clarabell’s room. He was silent for a moment while she continued to pack. “But who are they?”

Clarabell rolled her eyes and turned around to face him again “As I said before, some family friends”

“Where do they live?”

“Very far away”

“Why don’t they come here?”

“They’ve tried but can’t”

“Why can’t they?”

Clarabell threw down the shirt she had in her hands and groaned. “I don’t know Caduceus!”. She looked back to see Caduceus on the verge of tears. “Oh no, no, no, no I’m sorry!” She ran up to him and cupped his face. “I didn’t mean to yell, these are just questions that I can’t answer right now”.

Caduceus sniffled and looked up at his older sister, “Are you going to come back?”.

“Of course I am!” Clarabell laughed and moved her hands to ruffle his hair, “Do you really think I would leave you forever?” 

Caduceus thought for a moment, “No, I guess not”

“I couldn’t go knowing that I was leaving my favorite sibling behind” 

Caduceus smiled and giggled at that, “Of course you can’t! You couldn’t be away for very long without me”

“That’s right” Clarabell sighed and stood back up. “You have to let me pack now”

“Okay, do you need me to get anything for you?” 

“Hmm? Well, I could use some of Aunt Helena’s Chocolate Cookies…” She looked at Caduceus from the corner of her eye and saw him quickly get up out of the chair and run out of her room. 

“Okay!” he yelled back down the hall.

Clarabell smiled and continued to fold the shirts she needed to pack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this chapter being so short. I'm still having issues writing Caduceus so I think this chapter struggled from that. This is the last chapter that is pre-campaign, the rest of the chapters will be after the campaign. Hope you enjoyed and please leave some kudos and a comment. Thanks for reading! <3


	3. Fjord

After that many more years past. The Might Nien found each other, lost some, found some new, and found some members thought to be lost. They found Yasha and even got Molly back. Nott became Veth again and was able to live with her family again. A lot happened but they got through it together. Relationships happened: familiar and romantic. It took a couple of years but Beau and Caleb started to call each other sister and brother. Not too long after Molly came back he and Caleb ended up together. Sometime after that so did Fjord and Jester. And finally after a long painful period of awkward flirting Beau and Yasha. 

The Might Nien have never really stopped being adventurers, only spending half of their time in their home in Xorhaus. It was on one of their many trips around the continent that Fjord’s fear came up. He had taken the last watch with Molly - not that they really needed a watch anymore as they tried to stay out of super dangerous places, but they could never be too safe. He was seriously starting to get tired when Caleb came up from behind them and hugged Molly. 

Molly smiled and leaned his head back to look at Caleb, “Good Morning, Love”.

“Good Morning, Liebling” Caleb snuggled his face into Molly’s neck and hummed in contentment. 

Up until just over a year ago, Fjord would have never thought that Caleb could be an affectionate person but once everything with the Empire and his past was as close to being solved as possible the Nien saw him start to open up. He let himself think of Beau as his sister and to start caring about Molly as a partner. Fjord thought it was great that Caleb was happier and let himself be touchy-feely with the people he loves, but it would always shock him for a second when it happens.

“Is the watch over?” Molly asked Caleb. 

“Given that I am up I assume the others will be soon as well, so I would say yes”.

Molly nodded and turned to Fjord, “You can go sleep now”. Fjord must have looked confused because Molly kept talking. “You have been nodding off for the past thirty minutes, go get some sleep”. 

“Alright, I’m going to go take a nap” Fjord got up and started for the tent he shared with Jester. She was probably already awake so he didn’t worry about waking her up when he came in, but that meant that he might have to continue the conversation they had the other night. Continuing that conversation made him feel like he was going to panic, thinking about the original conversation made him really start to panic. He felt his world get dizzy and tried to reach out to lean on something, but only accomplished knocking over something metal; It made a loud bang when it hit the ground. 

“Fjord? Is everything okay?” Molly called over to where he heard the crashing. 

“Uh, um, yea. I’m fine” Fjord tried to make his voice steady but failed. Molly could tell that Fjord was very much not fine. Fjord heard someone walk up next to him and saw a bright Molly height shape stand next to him. 

“No, you’re not. what’s wrong?” Molly put a hand on his shoulder and started to lead him away from camp and away from everyone else. Molly figured getting Fjord away from the noise of camp would help in calming him down. He brought Fjord to the edge of the clearing and sat down in the grass. Fjord followed suit and sat next to him on the grass. 

“Thanks for that” Fjord started to catch his breath and calm down.

“It was no issue” Molly assured him. “So what caused that little episode?”.

Fjord suddenly felt like panicking again. “I don’t know if I can talk about it”.

“What? Is it Ukatoa again? I thought he was gone?”

“No! No, God, no” Fjord rolled his eyes at the thought of him, “Thank God no”.

“Then why can’t you talk about it?”

“Well it’s not really my place to tell someone, well it’s kind of my place, I mean we’re not even sure so why am I freaking out?” Fjord started to ramble on. 

“Woah okay. Slow down. What aren’t you sure about?” Molly asked.

Fjord looked at Molly and thought it over for a moment. Fuck it, “Well, a few days ago Jester and I were talking about stuff and it was really serious and long story short we might be having a baby”. 

Fjord watched as Molly’s face went from listening to confused to understanding to shocked. “Wait, really?”.

“Yep”

“Oh my gods” Molly smiled, “that’s great!” 

“I’m freaking out, Molly. I don’t know how to be a parent” 

“Okay and? I don’t think anyone does”

“But I didn’t have parents growing up, I don’t have anyone to ask for help or to look back at and remember how they did it” 

“That’s bullshit. You can ask any of us for help. Hell, Veth and Yeza would be happy to help I bet” 

“If I told Veth that I was having a baby with Jester I think she would steal my knee caps”

“Yeah you’re right, you might want to hold off on the baby daddy talk to her”

Fjord winced and shook his head, “Can you please not say “baby daddy”?

Molly laughed and got up. “Come on, let’s get back to camp before Jester drags Caleb out here to find us”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the kid fic starts! From here on out the chapters will take place after the campaign. I don't have an exact time for how long after because the campaign is still ongoing but imagine around one or two years. Hope you enjoyed and please leave some kudos and a comment. Thanks for reading! <3


	4. Jester

A few months later is when Jester’s fear came to light. It was early morning, but it was still as dark as the middle of the night. Surprisingly Jester didn’t take long to get used to the eternal night of Roshanna, a Tiefling thing Molly theorized when she brought it up. Jester slowly woke up and looked over at the clock on the nightstand: it read 7:30. She knew she fell asleep after 7:30 last night so she could safely assume this was AM and not PM. She moved her attention from her nightstand to the person next to her. Fjord was still asleep; this didn’t surprise her in the slightest. Even after his years on ships and then with the Might Nien Fjord always slept in given the chance. He never complained - too much - when he had to get up early, but his natural sleep cycle seemed to include sleeping in late. Jester was the opposite; she always got up early, even if she was super tired. That included this morning. She had woken up multiple times in the night uncomfortable - not unexpected when she was seven months pregnant. She took a moment to sit up and pull her hair back out of her face. She had let it grow out in the past few months and enjoyed the length but she missed her shorter hair as well.

“Hey” a voice came from next to her. Jester looked over and saw Fjord looking up at her. “Why am I awake?”.

Jester smiled. “Maybe it’s sympathy pains”, she teased. 

“Probably” Fjord grunted as he sat up. “Do you want to go down and get breakfast?”

“Not yet. I want to just sit and rest for a bit” Jester leaned back against her pillows and yawned. Fjord nodded and leaned back with her. He started to nod back off when Jester asked, “Do you ever think about what she is going to be like?”.

“She? How do you know they’re a she?” Fjord asked. 

“I have a feeling” 

Fjord smiled, “Okay, I trust you”.

“So do you ever think about what she is going to be like?” Jester asked again. 

Fjord thought for a second. He had thought about what their kid would be like, what they would look like, and how they would grow up. He had never thought of a daughter specifically but that didn’t change much. “Well, to start I think she will probably be a Tiefling”.

“Why?” 

“You’re a Tiefling and I’m a warlock, it's pretty probable”

“She could be a Genasi. I’m half Genasi and that skips generations sometimes” Jester explained. “You know, thinking about it she is going to have a very mixed genealogy”.

“What do you mean?”

“Well I’m half Tiefling and half Genasi, and you’re half Orc and half Human” 

“What if she ends up being Human? Sometimes Tielfings have Human children”

Jester’s eyes went wide, “That would be crazy!” 

Fjord chuckled, “It would. We are just gonna have to wait until she is here to see. Hell, we’ll have to wait until she’s an adult to really see what she looks like”.

“An adult?” Jester asked. For as excited she was to meet her daughter she had never really thought past her being a baby. 

“Yeah, I looked a lot more like a more, ah, traditional Half-Orc when I was a kid versus now as an adult” Fjord explained. 

“Oh wow, yeah, she is going to be an adult someday” Jester started to hyperventilate. 

“Jester, hey calm down. What’s wrong?” Fjord sat up and turned to face her. 

“She is going to grow up and become an adult and go out on her own” 

“Yes, she will, just like you did” Fjord grabbed her hand and held it. “Just like all of us did”.

“Oh my gods I did! Oh, I need to message my mama! I bet she is super worried about me” Jester exclaimed. 

“Jester, what’s this about?” Fjord smiled affectionately and shook his head.

“I was so stuck on her being my baby that I forgot she isn’t going to be a baby forever” Jester explained as she got up and went to look for pen and paper to plan out her message.

“Hey, look at me” Jester stopped and looked over at Fjord. “She’s hasn’t even been born yet and you’re already worried about her growing up”.

“Yes? That’s what I’m doing” Jester said a matter of factly.

“She’s going to be a baby for a while, you have nothing to worry about”

“But I do! What if I miss out on important stuff?” 

“Jester, do you really think you would be able to be away from her for long enough to miss anything?”

Jester thought for a moment, “I wouldn’t, but even if I’m there 24/7 I don’t know if I’ll be ready to for her to grow up”.

“I’m sure by the time she is growing up we will be ready for it as well” Fjord assured her.

Jester thought about it for a minute, “I guess you’re probably right”. She sat back down on the bed, “But I still want to message my mom”.

Fjord grinned and held up his hands to count words for her, “Go for it”. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You still don't get to meet the Fjordester baby, sorry. You kind of meet her next chapter... but not really. You should meet her the chapter after next, so don't worry. Hope you enjoyed and please leave some kudos and a comment. Thanks for reading! <3


	5. Molly

Molly’s fear was a year after Jester’s. Part of the group - Beau, Yasha, Caduceus, Caleb, and himself - had gone on a short adventure to the Northern Coast. Veth, Yeza, and Luc were off visiting some of Yeza’s family while Jester and Fjord had decided that Valkyrie, their now almost one-year-old daughter, wasn’t ready to go on a big trip yet. The group had traveled a few days and had stopped to camp between towns. Caleb guessed that they had three days left of traveling before they got to their destination. 

“I’m tired of sitting down on a horse all day, I’m going to take a walk” Molly announced once everyone finished setting up camp. He grabbed his coat and tied it around his waist; it was too hot to wear it. “Anyone care to join me?”.

A jumble of “No thanks ”and “I’m tired”, and a “Fuck off” from Beau replied.

“I never understood why people hated their in-laws until I met you” Molly quipped back at her.

“You guys aren’t even married, I’m not your in-law yet,” Beau said sharply and moved to go to bed. 

“Stop it, be nice to each other I know you love one another” Caleb got up from his seat on the ground and walked over to his tent, “I’ll come with you, just let me put my coat away”.

“Can you also get me a hair tie?” Molly asked. Caleb came back out of the tent now without his heavy coat and with a hair tie. “Thank you, dear”, Molly grabbed the tie and kissed Caleb’s cheek. 

“No problem,” Caleb said as he watched Molly pull his hair up into a small messy bun. “Are you going to cut your hair soon?”

“Nah, I want to grow it out” Molly turned around and faced Caleb. He had gotten most of his hair into the bun but some pieces of curly hair were still framing his face, probably getting caught on his horns when he tried to put them up.

Caleb reached out and pushed a piece of hair behind Molly’s ear, “ _ Ja _ , that would be very pretty”.

“Someone please gag me, this is way too fluffy for my taste” Beau broke the moment. 

“Isn’t it past your bedtime?” Caleb said to her, not even looking back.

“Isn’t it time you died, old man?” 

Caleb turned around at that, confused, “I’m only eight years older than you”.

“Sounds pretty old to me dude” Beau shrugged and slipped into her tent.

Caleb turned back around to face Molly and rolled his eyes, “Why did I decide to call her my sister?”.

“Because you love her, aginst your best judgment” Molly grabbed Caleb’s hand and pulled him towards the woods, “Now come on, I want to move around”.

They walked through a vague path in the woods are awhile, just walking together. Caleb started to think about a comment Beau had made earlier.

“Mollymuak?” Caleb asked.

“Using my full name, huh?” Molly raised a brow in a teasing manner, “I thought you stopped doing that once we starting dating”.

“ _ Ja _ , well this is more serious so I thought it would warrant your full name” Caleb stopped walking. Molly followed suit, now looking at Caleb worried. “What Beau said earlier, about us not being married. Is that something you would want?” 

Molly gave a sideways smile, “If I didn’t know any better I would say this sounds like a proposal”

Caleb chuckled, “No, not yet, but sometime in the future would you want that?”.

“How far in the future?” Molly asked, knowing his answer but wanting to know Caleb’s train of thought. 

Caleb had to think for a second before answering, “I would assume not that far away” 

Molly about said something about loving that but was distracted by a weird noise from a distance behind them. He looked back and saw nothing in the dark, but he knew better than to trust that. 

“Can you see anything?” Caleb asked, assuming Molly’s dark vision would make up for Caleb’s lack of. 

“No, but I don’t think that means anything. I know I heard something” 

“So did I” 

Molly grabbed Caleb’s hand again and led him through the dark forest towards where he heard something. A few seconds later they heard it again; it was some kind of whimper or cry. After of minute of walking around the small area, Molly spotted a shape on the ground near a tree. 

“Caleb, over here” Molly directed and started towards the shape. Once they got closer Caleb’s human vision could see the shape through the darkness. At the same time, Molly finally figured out what he was looking at. “Oh my gods”, Molly muttered as he let go of Caleb’s hand ran over to the shape. Caleb came up behind Molly’s now kneeling figure and saw that he was kneeling over what was a small child. Not even a child but a baby. At first glance, Caleb thought they were human but when he looked longer he noticed an unnatural undertone to their skin and small bumps on their temples that looked a lot like the bumps baby Tieflings have before their horns come in. Their eyes were a bright green that glowed slightly in the dark, a sign of dark vision. 

“That’s a baby Tiefling, why are they out here alone?” Caleb asked as he knelt down next to Molly. 

“I don’t know and I don’t have time to think about it. They need help. Do we have anything back at camp that a baby could eat?” Molly asked as he awkwardly tried to figure out how to pick the child up.

“Probably. Here, let me I know how” Caleb picked up the Teifling child. When he did he felt something tucked into the back of the blanket they were wrapped in. He grabbed it and handed it to Molly. It said something in a language he didn't know. He assumed it wasn’t Infernal because Molly seemed confused by the lettering on the envelope as well. They started back to camp, much faster than they came. 

“Why would someone leave a baby alone in the woods like this?” Caleb asked on the way back. 

“The sad truth is that Tiefling children get abandoned sometimes. Jester was lucky enough to have a caring mother and I don’t have the memories of my childhood to tell you anything, but it's not uncommon for babies born as a Tiefling to be abandoned by their parents” Molly answered.

“But why?” 

“I don’t know, maybe to try and hide their demonic heritage. Maybe it’s a shame thing. Whatever the reason it doesn’t change anything” Molly answered and look down at the baby for an extended time. He saw that they had dark tan skin with an unusual red undertone, a head of wispy brown hair, and bright green eyes. The bumps on their temples were lower than where the average Tiefling’s horns would be but not odd in any way. He couldn’t see their tail but he could assume that it was spade. Molly didn’t know exactly what a healthy weight for a baby was, but he knew that they were too thin. “They need food when we get back, can you message any of them before we get there?”

“No, I can’t. I can only message Nott with my copper wire” Caleb answered and the baby started to look upset. “Oh no, don’t cry  _ kind _ ” Caleb tried to comfort them but didn’t seem to do much. 

Molly started to mummer things in Infernal to them. Caleb can’t speak Infernal but he could pick words like “Okay” and “Safe” out of what Molly was saying. It seemed to work in trying to calm them down. 

“Can they understand you?” Caleb asked.

“I don’t know, but I figured that since Tieflings know Infernal without learning it that it was worth a shot to try and calm them down” Molly explained. They came up to the beginning of the clearing they were camping in. Molly took off ahead of Caleb to tell the others about the situation. Caleb came up to their camp to find Molly talking rapidly to all three of their companions. Once Caleb stepped into view all three of them looked at him and then to what he was carrying. 

Caduceus stepped forward and grabbed the child from Caleb, “I’ll check them and heal them if they need it. We should have some preserves we can give them to eat”. Caleb nodded and went to look for the food. 

Over the next hour, they worked together to heal her - they figured out it was a her - and to feed her. After being fed she fell asleep while being held by Molly.

“What do I do with her? We don’t have anywhere for a baby to sleep” Molly asked looking down at her. 

Caleb thought for a second, “Go lay her down in our tent, she should be fine there”. Molly nodded and started over to the tent to lay her down. A few minutes later Molly came back and set next to Caleb on the ground around the fire that was still going. 

“What are we going to do with her?” Molly asked.

“I don’t know, maybe we can drop her off somewhere safe once we get to the next town. Like we did with Kiri” Caleb answered. 

Molly thought that over and reluctantly answered, “That would work, I guess”.

“And if there isn’t anywhere for her in the next town then we see about the town after that” Caleb added.

“We can do that” Molly stated. He looked back at the tent thinking about how sleepy he was getting, “so are we going to sleep out here tonight? She’s kind of in our tent”.

“We can sleep in there with her, it won’t hurt her”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,  _ Liebling _ , I’m sure”

“Okay, well let’s go to bed” 

The next day the group set off for the next town. When they got there they explained the situation to the innkeeper and asked about somewhere safe to leave her. The innkeeper didn’t know of anyone who could take her and explained that the town was small and likely wasn’t a place they could find a safe place for an orphan. The group decided to stay there for the night and to start heading home the next day. Caleb messaged Veth about what had happened and asked her to get in contact with Jester so she could message them. 

The group traveled for close to a week before they got close to their home in Roshana. They stopped at an inn for the night, deciding it would be best for all of them to rest even if they could make it home if they traveled through the night. All of the towns they passed on the way home were small towns built to accommodate travelers, so they still had the baby with them. The current plan was to give her to the orphanage in Roshanna. They didn’t think it was ideal - they wanted her to go directly to a family, not sit in the system waiting to be adopted but it was the next best thing. 

In the morning while Caleb was getting ready to leave Molly came into their room.

“ _ Guten Morgen _ , Molly” Caleb walked over to him and kissed him good morning, “You were gone when I woke up, where did you go?”.

“Oh, she woke me up early so I took her down to the tavern to calm her down so it wouldn’t wake you up” Molly answered. In the week that they had her Molly had taken care of her the most. Infernal seemed to help calm her down so he was the go-to when it came to dealing with her. That and she just seemed to like Molly the most. 

“Where is she now?” Caleb asked seeing that he didn’t have her now. 

“Yasha took her when I was on the way up. Said she was done getting ready and wanted to give me time to as well” Molly answered. He went over to his bag and grabbed a clean shirt to put on. Halfway through taking off his sleep shirt, he spaced out; Caleb noticed this.

“Molly? Are you okay?” Caleb asked, walking over to him. 

Molly stayed deep in thought. He looked over at Caleb and swallowed hard, “Caleb I don’t... “ he struggled for words. 

“You don’t what?” 

Molly sighed and completely took off his sleep shirt and quickly replaced it with the clean shirt, “Caleb I don’t think I can give her to the orphanage”.

“What do you mean?”

Molly stuttered for a moment before finding the words, “When I was down in the tavern with her the barkeep saw us and said that my daughter was adorable and asked what her name was. Instead of correcting her I said that her name was Rivera. It was a panic move but afterward, it felt right. Like it was just a normal conversation a parent would have about their kid”. Molly stopped to try and read Caleb’s face but couldn’t tell how he was reacting. “In the week that we’ve had her, I think I got emotionally attached and now I don’t think I can give her up. You don’t have to have any part in this, this can just be me but I think I want to keep her. Adopt her”, Molly finished and looked at Caleb. 

Caleb stayed quiet for what felt like forever but finally said, “Okay”.

“Okay to what?”

“To adopting her”

“Really?”

“ _ Ja _ , really. I would love to adopt her and raise her with you”

Molly smiled and felt tears at the edge of falling, “I love you so much”. He stepped forward and kissed Caleb, wrapping his arms around his neck. 

“ _ Ich Liebe Dich Auch _ ” Caleb said when they broke apart. Molly smiled recognizing the phrase. “You know I like that name” Caleb added after a moment. Molly scrunched his brows and tilted his head. “Rivera, it is very pretty” Caleb clarified. 

“You think so?”

“It really suits her”

“Rivera, our daughter” Molly tried the phrase out loud and started to cry out of happiness. Caleb tried not too but he joined Molly a second later. “We should go tell the others,” Molly said after they held each other for a few minutes. 

“We should” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long chapter compared to the others. Can you tell which ship is my favorite and easiest to write, lol. Thanks for reading, the next chapters should be up soon. Please leave some kudos and a comment, thanks! <3


	6. Caleb

Caleb’s fear had to do with Rivera and what questions she might ask in the years to come. 

It was the middle of the night and Caleb was downstairs with Rivera. She was starting to grow out of getting up in the night, but some nights she would still wake her parents up by crying until she got attention. Normally Molly would be the one to get up but the past week had been a lot of getting up for her and he was exhausted. Caleb had woken up before Molly and took Rivera out to the living room of the Mighty Nien’s house - also called the “Xorhouse” by most of the members - so they wouldn’t wake Molly up. He, Molly, and Rivera were the only ones on the first floor so being in the living room wouldn’t bother everyone else. 

Caleb was currently sat on the couch, facing the window. The moonlight was bright enough to light up the room without any candles or magical lights. He was sat cross-legged with Rivera passed out on his lap. She had fallen back asleep a moment ago but Caleb waited until she was in a deeper sleep to try and move her back to bed. For the time being, he was looking down at her face and making a mental list of her features. 

It had been ten months since they had found her and decided to adopt her. In that time she grew from an infant to almost a toddler. Her skin tone had moved from being vaguely inhuman to being a close match to Beau’s. Her hair had grown out straight and a dark brown. Her eyes had stayed a green but had darkened in color to a forest green. She had a splotch of dark freckles across her small, upturned nose. The bumps on her temples had turned into small nubby horns that were starting to grow straight back around her head, like a halo. 

Caleb stayed sitting down with Rivera for some time, probably more than necessary, until he felt someone sit down next to him. He didn’t look over to see who it was, expecting it to be Molly. 

“How’s River doing?” a different voice asked. Caleb looked over to see Beau sat next to him. She was in a shirt way too big on her, probably Yasha’s, and a pair of shorts. Her hair was down and covering her undercut. 

“She’s fine, just wanted attention I think” Caleb answered. 

Beau rolled her eyes, “Wow, even if she isn’t related to him by blood she still takes after Molly doesn’t she?” 

“Why do you guys bicker so much? I know you don’t hate each other” Caleb asked.

“It’s fun. It’s kind of like a sibling thing but instead of a sibling, it's my brother’s boyfriend” Beau shrugged and continued to look at Rivera - or what Beau calls her, River. Caleb looked over River for a moment and decided she was asleep enough to be moved and wordlessly moved to hand her over to Beau. 

Beau had never been good with kids and wasn’t a big fan of them. She knew she never wanted any of her own so she was content with just hanging around her friends’ kids. She was okay with Valkyrie; babysat her when asked and spent quality time with her outside of that. Valkyrie was a quiet baby who grew into a well-mannered toddler whose only big whoopsie so far was accidentally putting a hole in her dad’s leg when she started growing her horns. Beau could take care of her if she was given instructions and could keep her entertained for a bit, but if she was left alone with her and no one else to ask for help, she would be completely lost. It was entirely different with River. A few weeks after River was welcomed into the family Beau took on the role of aunt. She was also Valkyrie's aunt, as was Yasha and Veth, but she felt different with River. Beau understood her almost as well as Caleb and Molly did. Beau was the person who could get her out of bad moods and was the next person she went to if her parents weren’t available. This led to Beau becoming River’s favorite aunt very early in her life. 

Beau took her with no issue. She held her in her lap and stroked her hair. Caleb looked at the scene in front of him and wished he could paint as well as Jester. Everything about it was part of something he never thought he could have: his sister holding his daughter who he was raising with the love of his life. All things that he thought he would never have. He looked over River’s and Beau’s features, noticing that Beau looked like she could pass as River’s actual aunt. 

“You two look alike,” Caleb said in a hushed tone, being careful to not wake up River. 

“Really? I don’t really see it” Beau raised her brow and looked up at Caleb. 

“Yeah, besides the nose and eyes you look as if you could be her biological family” Caleb highlighted their shared features, “She looks nothing like me and Molly, it’s going to be very obvious to her in a few years that she’s adopted”.

“You think it’s going to be the lack of resemblance that tips her off to being adopted and not the two dads thing?” Beau asked. 

“Okay,  _ ja, ja _ . That was dumb, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is going to have questions that we don’t have answers too” Caleb sighed and leaned back on the couch, “Any questions she asks will end in disappointment for her”

“Do you want to practice answering them?”

“ _ Was? _ ” 

“I can ask you questions she might ask and you can think about how you would answer them”

“Oh, well I guess that wouldn’t hurt, but shouldn’t Molly be here as well? What if she asks him something?”

“You can talk to him about it later, just us for now” Beau moved River to a more comfortable position on her lap and faced Caleb head-on, “Ready?”

Caleb nodded.

“Okay let’s start with the most obvious one: Am I adopted?” 

“Yes”

“Who are my birth parents?”

“I don’t know”

“Why don’t you know” 

Caleb thought for a moment before answering, “Because your dad and I never met them”

“Then how did you get me?”

“We found you”

“How did you find me?”

Caleb pondered about how much he would be able to tell her without telling her she was left alone. He must have been quiet for too long because Beau spoke up.

“Do you have an answer?” Beau asked. 

“I… I don’t… I can’t tell her she was abandoned. It would hurt her too much”

Beau nodded and thought about it, “If she’s young enough you could tell her a story about the stork or something, little kids believe that stuff”

“I don’t know”

“Is this something you’re going to have to talk to Molly about before you have an answer?”

“ _ Ja _ , It is. We have some time though, she’s still just saying simple words” 

“I don’t know man, Valkyrie jumped from a few words to full sentences pretty fast once she got her hearing aids” 

Caleb hummed in acknowledgment, “Well that could have been because she could suddenly hear much better”

“Whatever it was, I’m just saying you might not have as much time as you think you do. I don’t mean to overstep the “parent knows best” line, but I’m just saying you might be underestimating her” Beau picked River up and handed her back over to Caleb, “Here, put her back to bed. We should both get back to sleep”.

Caleb held her so that her head was on his shoulder. He could feel one of her stubby horns press into his shoulder and winced. “You’re probably right. Goodnight Beauregard”, Caleb got up and walked back towards his and Molly’s room. 

“‘Night Caleb”, Beau waved and started up the stairs to go back to her room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I had a busy few weeks between when I started this and when school started. I'm back in class now and I have some time to work on this now. I spent like three weeks on this just doing a few sentences at a time so I apologize if the pace a little weird. Once again you don't really meet Valkryie yet, unlike what I said a few chapters ago... oops. I had planned on it but once I started this I changed the whole chapter outline. BTW I do plan on writing a whole storyline to go with this and I have a rough outline for it, so that's why there's some stuff in here that seems like a loose plot thread (stuff like the letter that was with River and Valkyrie's hearing).  
> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review and a kudos 
> 
> Edit : I made art of River! I posted it on my Tumblr: https://marieaqua.tumblr.com/post/187566771918/i-dont-make-much-connection-between-my-a03-and-my


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